Orlando employment attorney C. Ryan
Morgan appeared on My Fox
Orlando’s Good Day program this morning to
discuss legislative changes proposed by President Obama that would
strengthen overtime laws in favor of salaried employees who work more
than 40 hours a week and currently aren’t entitled to overtime pay. The
proposed new regulations, which were signed as a presidential memorandum
addressed to the Labor Department by President Obama Thursday afternoon,
will seek to increase the number of people who would qualify for
overtime, the Washington Post reports.

In his interview, Morgan went on to dispel the myth of salaried workers
having to “always be on the clock,” saying that’s not always the case
with the current structure of exempt employee laws.

“There’s a federal limitation on how much salary it takes to be an
exempt employee where you don’t get overtime. Currently, that level is
$455 per week, which, if you multiply that out over a year, doesn’t even
meet the federal poverty line,” Morgan told Good Day anchor John Brown.
“So the argument is, if you’re above that number, you can be exempt and
be forced to work 80 hours a week or more without extra pay.”

Although Obama’s administration has not specified how much the salary
threshold will be raised, Morgan says the higher that number goes, the
more workers will be affected and then eligible for overtime.

“It will affect a lot of individuals who earn five, six, $700 per week,
no overtime, they now may be eligible for overtime going forward once
this ruling making process plays out,” Morgan said in his interview.

Though the overtime law changes are in the proposal stage, with an
official ruling not expected until the fall, according to the Post,
President Obama’s focus on bridging the gap between the rising cost of
living and workers’ stagnant wages is expected to remain a priority for
the rest of his presidency. In using his executive powers to “revise the
rules that carry out the Fair Labor Standards Act,” the New York
Times wrote earlier today, the president hopes to
overhaul the nation’s overtime rules as his administration goes
toe-to-toe with corporations—and business lobbyists in Washington, some
political analysts say—whose profits continue to grow as American
workers’ wages deplete. Click here to learn more
about federal overtime laws or visit
http://www.usovertimelawyers.com/.